1

Linux Operating System

許 富 皓

2

Memory Addressing -- with the assistance of 江瑞敏 and 許齊顯

3

Entries of Page Global Directory

The content of the first entries of the Page Global Directory that map linear addresses lower than 0xc0000000 (the first 768 entries with PAE disabled, or the first 3 entries with PAE enabled) depends on the specific process.

Conversely, the remaining entries should be the same for all processes and equal to the corresponding entries of the master kernel Page Global Directory.

4

Kernel Page Tables

The kernel maintains a set of page tables for its own use. This set of page tables is rooted at a so-called master ke

rnel Page Global Directory. After system initialization, the set of page tables are never directl

y used by any process or kernel thread. Rather, the highest entries of the master kernel Page Global Direc

tory are the reference model for the corresponding entries of the Page Global Directories of EVERY regular process in the system.

Duplicate the Content of MKPGD

copy_prcess() copy_mm() dump_mm() mm_init()

mm_alloc_pgd()pgd_alloc()pgd_alloc()

pgd_prepopulate_pmd()

5

6

How Kernel Initializes Its Own page tables A two-phase activity:

In the first phase, the kernel creates a limited address space including

the kernel’s code segment the kernel’s data segments the initial page tables 128 KB for some dynamic data structures.

This minimal address space is just large enough to install the kernel in RAM and to initialize its core data structures. .

In the second phase, the kernel takes advantage of all of the existing RAM and sets up the page tables properly.

7

Phase One

The Special Dot Symbol [GNU]

The special symbol `.' refers to the current address that as is assembling into.

Thus, the expression `melvin: .long .' defines melvin to contain its own address.

Assigning a value to . is treated the same as a .org directive. Thus, the expression `.=.+4' is the same as sa

ying `.space 4'.

8

initial_page_table and __brk_base

The provisional Page Global Directory is contained in the initial_page_table variable.

The provisional Page Tables are stored starting from __brk_base.

9

Assumption

CPU architecture is x86_32. vmlinux[wikipedia] size is 7MB.

On Linux systems, vmlinux is a statically linked executable file that contains the Linux kernel in one of the object file formats supported by Linux, which includes ELF, COFF and a.out.

boot loader put linux kernel at physical address 0x01000000. 10

Phase One Mapping Size

In order to map 24 MB of RAM, 6 Page Tables are required.

16 MB (reserved memory)

+ 7 MB (vmlinux size)

+ 1 MB (MAPPING_BEYOND_END)

11

MAPPING_BEYOND_END

Beside mapping the vmlinux, linux kernel will map additional memory for bootmem allocator.

In x86_32 with PAE disable, the value of MAPPING_BEYOND_END is 1MB.

bootmem allocator: When a system is initialized, there is no buddy system and slab

allocator; hence, bootmem allocator is responsible for memory management and memory allocation.

12

:

:

physical address

0x00000000

1 MB: mapping beyond end

7 MB: vmlinux

Physical Address Layout

0x01000000

0x01700000

0x017fffff

16 MB

13

14

initial_page_table in Phase One The objective of this first phase of paging is to allow these 24 MB

of RAM to be easily addressed both in protected mode before and after paging is enabled.

Therefore, the kernel must create a mapping from both the linear addresses 0x00000000 through 0x017fffff and the linear addresses 0xc0000000 through 0xc17fffff into the physical addresses 0x00000000 through 0x017fffff. In other words, the kernel during its first phase of initialization can

address the first 24 MB of RAM by either linear addresses identical to the physical ones or 24 MB worth of linear addresses, starting from 0xc0000000.

physical addresslinear address

0x00000000

Mapping Linear Addresses to Physical Addresses in Phase One (1)

0x017fffff

0xc0000000

0xc17fffff

0xffffffff

24M

24M

0x00000000

0x017fffff

24M

4 K

…

4 K

15

pt

4 K

pgd

physical addresslinear address

0x00000000

Mapping Linear Addresses to Physical Addresses in Phase One (2)

0x017fffff

0xc0000000

0xc17fffff

0xffffffff

24M

24M

0x00000000

0x017fffff

24M

4 K

…

4 K

16

pt

4 K

pgd

17

Contents of initial_page_table in Phase One The Kernel creates the desired mapping by filli

ng all the initial_page_table entries with zeroes, except for entries 0 ~ 5, 0x300 (decimal 768) ~ 0x305 (decimal 773); the latter six entries span all linear addresses between 0xc0000000 and 0xc17fffff.

The 0 ~ 5, 0x300 ~ 0x305 entries are initialized as follows: The address field of entries 0 and 0x300 is set to th

e physical address of __brk_base.

Initialize initial_page_table page_pde_offset = (__PAGE_OFFSET >> 20);

movl $pa(__brk_base), %edi movl $pa(initial_page_table), %edx movl $PTE_IDENT_ATTR, %eax10: leal PDE_IDENT_ATTR(%edi),%ecx /* Create PDE entry */ movl %ecx,(%edx) /* Store identity PDE entry */ movl %ecx, page_pde_offset(%edx) /* Store kernel PDE entry */ addl $4,%edx movl $1024, %ecx11: stosl addl $0x1000,%eax loop 11b /* * End condition: we must map up to the end + MAPPING_BEYOND_END. */ movl $pa(_end) + MAPPING_BEYOND_END + PTE_IDENT_ATTR, %ebp cmpl %ebp,%eax jb 10b addl $__PAGE_OFFSET, %edi movl %edi, pa(_brk_end) shrl $12, %eax movl %eax, pa(max_pfn_mapped) /* Do early initialization of the fixmap area */ movl $pa(initial_pg_fixmap)+PDE_IDENT_ATTR,%eax movl %eax,pa(initial_page_table+0xffc)

0xc00 (=0x300 * 4)

4k

number of entries in PTs.

18

Phase 1: Page Table Layout

entry 0 (4 byte)

entry 1

entry 2

:

entry 5

:

:

entry 768

entry 769

entry 770

:

entry 773

:

entry 1023

initial_pagr_table (pgd)

entry 0 (4 byte)

entry 1

:

entry 1023

4 KB

:

::

4 KB

:

__brk_base (pte) physical address

4 MB

19

entry 0 (4 byte)

entry 1

…

entry 1023

entry 0 (4 byte)

entry 1

…

entry 1023

::

0x00000000

0x017fffff

……

24 MB

After paging is enable, eip’s values use entry 0 to entry 5 of initial_page_table to tranfer into physical addresses.

When executing file kernel/head.S, values of eip are within the range between 0x00000000 and 0x00800000.

Objectives of initial_page_table

88 ENTRY(startup_32) /*protected mode code*/

99 lgdt pa(boot_gdt_descr)

:

211 movl $pa(initial_page_table), %edx

:

390 /* Enable paging */

391 movl $pa(initial_page_table), %eax

392 movl %eax,%cr3

393 movl $CR0_STATE,%eax

394 movl %eax,%cr0

395 ljmp $__BOOT_CS,$1f

396 1:

398 addl $__PAGE_OFFSET, %esp

:

448 lgdt early_gdt_descr

449 lidt idt_descr

:

468 jmp *(initial_code)

:

679 ENTRY(initial_page_table)

680 .fill 1024,4,0

:

718 ENTRY(stack_start)

719 .long init_thread_union+THREAD_SIZE

:

754 boot_gdt_descr:

755 .word __BOOT_DS+7

:

759 idt_descr:

760 .word IDT_ENTRIES*8-1 …

765 ENTRY(early_gdt_descr)

766 .word GDT_ENTRIES*8-1

virtual address

physical address

logical address

||

virtual address

(segment base address =0)

||

physical address

(paging is not enabled yet.)

Paging Unit

eip

Function i386_start_kernel () is inside a pure C program (head32.c); hence, its address is above 0xc0000000;therefore, after this instruction, values of eip will be greater than 0xc0000000.

Before paging is enable (before line 190), eip’s values are equal to physical addresses.

eip

20

21

Enable the Paging Unit The startup_32( ) assembly language function als

o enables the paging unit. This is achieved by loading the physical address of initial_page_table into the cr3 control register and by setting the PG flag of the cr0 control register, as shown in the following equivalent code fragment:

movl $pa(initial_page_table), %eax movl %eax,%cr3 movl $CR0_STATE,%eax movl %eax,%cr0

22

Phase 2

23

How Kernel Initializes Its Own Page Tables --- Phase 2 Finish the Page Global Directory The final mapping provided by the kernel Page Tables mu

st transform virtual addresses starting from 0xc0000000 to physical addresses starting from 0x00000000.

There are two different configurations that will affect the size of the linear mapping region. CONFIG_HIGHMEM CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM

CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM

If CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM is set, the kernel can only access physical memory less than 1024 MB.

There are 2 cases in this configuration: Case 1: RAM size is less than 895 MB.

Why 895 MB? Case 2: RAM size is between 895 MB and 1024 MB.

24

CONFIG_HIGHMEM

If CONFIG_HIGHMEM is set, the kernel can access physical memory larger than 1024 MB.

There are 3 cases in this configuration: Case 1: RAM size is less than 887 MB. Case 2: RAM size is between 887 MB and 4096 MB. Case 3: RAM size is larger than 4096 MB.

25

Assumption

We assume that the kernel is configured as CONFIG_HIGHMEM .

The following three cases will be discussed: Case 1: RAM size is less than 887 MB. Case 2: RAM size is between 887 MB and 4096 MB. Case 3: RAM size is larger than 4096 MB.

P.S.: The operations performed in case 1 and case 2 of configuration CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM are the same as the ones in case 1 and case 2 of configuration CONFIG_HIGHMEM .

26

Phase 2

Case 1:

When RAM Size Is Less Than 887MB

27

Function Call Chain to kernel_physical_mapping_init()

setup_arch()

init_mem_mapping()

init_memory_mapping()

kernel_physical_mapping_init()

setup_arch() writes the physical address of swapper_pg_dir in the cr3 control register using load_cr3(swapper_pg_dir).

28

kernel_physical_mapping_init() Reinitialize swapper_pg_dir Invokes __flush_tlb_all() to invalidate all TLB entrie

s.

29

Function Call to paging_init

• startup_32 start_kernel setup_arch paging_init

• paging_init is no longer in charge of initializing swapper_pg_dir which is one of its major work in Linux versions around 2.6.16.

[1][2][3][4]

[1][2][3][4]

30

paging_init()

• paging_init():– Invoke pagetable_init()– Invokes __flush_tlb_all() to invalidate all TLB entries

• #ifdef CONFIG_HIGHMEM

– pagetable_init() :• Invokes permanent_kmaps_init()

– permanent_kmaps_init() • Invoke page_table_range_init()

• #else

– pagetable_init() :• do nothing.

32

Important Function Call In Phase 2

31

setup_arch()setup_arch()

init_mem_mappinginit_mem_mapping

init_memory_mappinginit_memory_mapping early_ioremap_page_table_range_init

early_ioremap_page_table_range_init

kernel_pysical_mapping_init

kernel_pysical_mapping_init

x86_init.paging.pagetable_init

x86_init.paging.pagetable_init

paging_initpaging_init

pagetable_initpagetable_init

permenent_kmaps_initpermenent_kmaps_init

kmap_initkmap_init

continuous linear mapping others

33

Assumption We assume that the CPU is a recent 80x86 micropr

ocessor supporting 4 MB pages and "global" TLB entries.

Notice that the User/Supervisor flags in all Page Global Directory entries referencing linear addresses above 0xc0000000 are cleared, thus denying processes in User Mode access to the kern

el address space. Notice also that the Page Size flag is set

so that the kernel can address the RAM by making use of large pages.

Linear Address and Physical Address Mapping

3M vmalloc pkmap fixmap

Linear address

4 M 880 M 3M

Physical address

0 0xc0000000

4k mapping

0xff7fe000 0xffc00000 0xfffff000

0xff800000 0xfffa1000

887MB

hole

887MB

34

0xc0400000

4M 880M

0x00000000 0x00400000

4kmapping

4M mapping

35

Clearance of Page Global Directory Entries Created in Phase 1 The identity mapping of the first megabytes

of physical memory (24 MB in our example) built by the startup_32( ) function is required to complete the initialization phase of the kernel.

When this mapping is no longer necessary, the kernel clears the corresponding page table entries.

MKPGD Mapping

swapper_pg_dir

entry 0

:

entry 768 (4 byte)

entry 769 (4 byte)

entry 770

:

entry 989

:

entry 1023

entry 0 (4 byte)

:

entry 1023 (4 byte)

4 KB

:4 KB

4 M

::

4 KB

:

4 KB

:

4 KB

physical memory

4M= 1024x4k

.

.

.

36

pt

34 entries

:

entry 0 (4 byte)

:

entry 767 (4 byte)

:

entry 1023 (4 byte)

pt

:

3M= 768x4k

37

Phase 2

Case 2: When RAM Size Is between 887MB and 4096MB

38

Phase 2 – Case 2

Final kernel page table when RAM size is between 887 MB and 4096 MB : In this case, the RAM CNNNOT be mapped entirely into the kerne

l linear address space, because the address space is only 1GB. Therefore, during the initialization phase Linux only maps a RAM

window having size of 887 MB into the kernel linear address space. If a program needs to address other parts of the existing RAM, so

me other linear address interval (from the 896th MB to the 1st GB) must be mapped to the required RAM.

This implies changing the value of some page table entries.

39

Phase 2 – Case 2 Code

To initialize the Page Global Directory, the kernel uses the same code as in the previous case.

Linear Address and Physical Address Mapping

3M vmalloc pkmap fixmap

Linear address

4 M 880M 3M

Physical address

0 0xc0000000

4k mapping

0xff7fe000 0xffc00000 0xfffff000

0xff800000 0xfffa1000

887MB

hole

887MB

34

0xc0400000

4M 880M

0x00000000 0x00400000

4kmapping

4M mapping

MKPGD Mapping

swapper_pg_dir

entry 0

:

entry 768 (4 byte)

entry 769 (4 byte)

entry 770

:

entry 989

:

entry 1023

entry 0 (4 byte)

:

entry 1023 (4 byte)

4 KB

:4 KB

4 M

::

4 KB

:

4 KB

:

4 KB

:::::::

physical memory

4M= 1024x4k

.

.

.

36

pt

34 entries

:

entry 0 (4 byte)

:

entry 767 (4 byte)

:

entry 1023 (4 byte)

pt

:

3M= 768x4k

42

Phase 2

Case 3:

When RAM Size Is More Than 4096MB

43

Assumption

Assume: The CPU model supports Physical Address E

xtension (PAE). The amount of RAM is larger than 4 GB. The kernel is compiled with PAE support.

44

RAM Mapping Principle

Although PAE handles 36-bit physical addresses, linear addresses are still 32-bit addresses.

As in case 2, Linux maps a 887-MB RAM window into the kernel linear address space; the remaining RAM is left unmapped and handled by dynamic remapping.

Translation Table Layout Notice that all CPU models that support PAE also support large 2 MB

pages and global pages. As in the previous case, whenever possible, Linux uses large pages to reduce the number of page tables .

The first 448 (888/2=444) entries in the Page Middle Directory are filled with the physical address of the first 888 MB of RAM. There are 512 entries, but the last 64 (512-444=68) are reserved for non

contiguous memory allocation.

45

Translation Table Layout

0

1

:

:

:

:

:

443

2M

887

MB

444

445

:

:

511

2M

2M

2M

:

:

68

swapper_pg_dir

empyt_zero_page

pmd

46

4k

:

4k

1M

entry 0 (4 byte)

:

entry 255 (4 byte)

:

entry 511 (4 byte)

pt

:

:::

initial_page_table and swapper_pg_dir

After be initialized, the content of swapper_pg_dir will be copied into initial_page_table.

static inline void clone_pgd_range(pgd_t *dst, pgd_t *src, int count)

{

memcpy(dst, src, count * sizeof(pgd_t));

}

clone_pgd_range(initial_page_table+KERNEL_PGD_BOUNDARY,swapper_pg_dir+KERNEL_PGD_BOUNDARY,KERNEL_PGD_PTRS);

9

47

Fix-Mapped Linear Addresses

48

Usage of Fix-Mapped Linear Addresses

The initial part of the fourth gigabyte of kernel linear addresses maps the physical memory of the system.

However, around 128 MB of linear addresses are always left available because the kernel uses them to implement noncontiguous memory allocation

and fix-mapped linear addresses.

49

Fix-Mapped Linear Addresses vs. Physical Addresses Basically, a fix-mapped linear address is a constant line

ar address like 0xffffc000 whose corresponding physical address can be set up in an arbitrary way. Thus, each fix-mapped linear address maps one page frame of the physical memory.

Fix-mapped linear addresses are conceptually similar to the linear addresses that map the first 888 MB of RAM. However, a fix-mapped linear address can map any physical address.

The mapping established by the linear addresses in the initial portion of the fourth gigabyte is linear Linear address X maps physical address X - PAGE_OFFSET.

50

Data Structure enum fixed_addresses Each fix-mapped linear address is represented by an int

eger index defined in the enum fixed_addresses data structure:

enum fixed_addresses {#ifdef CONFIG_X86_32 FIX_HOLE, FIX_VDSO,#else VSYSCALL_LAST_PAGE, VSYSCALL_FIRST_PAGE=VSYSCALL_LAST_PAGE+((VSYSCALL_END- VSYSCALL_START)>>PAGE_SHIFT)-1, VVAR_PAGE, VSYSCALL_HPET,#endif ...

__end_of_fixed_addresses};

51

How to Obtain the Linear Address Set of a Fix-Mapped Linear Address Fix-mapped linear addresses are placed at the end of the

fourth gigabyte of linear addresses. The fix_to_virt( ) function computes the constant li

near address starting from the index: unsigned long __FIXADDR_TOP = 0xfffff000;#define FIXADDR_TOP ((unsigned long)__FIXADDR_TOP)#define __fix_to_virt(x) (FIXADDR_TOP - ((x) << PAGE_SHIFT))

P.S.: #define PAGE_SHIFT 12

Therefore, fix-mapped linear addresses are supposed to use with kernel paging mechanism that uses 4 KB page frames.

52

the Linear Address Set of a Fix-Mapped Linear Address

4k

4k

4k

:

4k

4k

0xfffff000 0

0xffffe000 1

0xffffd000 2

0xffffc000 3

virtual

address

0xffffffff

53

Associate a Physical Address with a Fix-mapped Linear Address

Macros: set_fixmap(idx,phys) and set_fixmap_nocache(idx,phys): Both functions initialize the Page Table entry c

orresponding to the fix_to_virt(idx) linear address with the physical address phys; however, the second function also sets the PCD flag of the Page Table entry, thus disabling the hardware cache when accessing the data in the page frame .